Townsville

Weighing up the options

TOWNSVILLE Dave Hodge

There have been some mixed results for the end of barra season. There was some disappointment, but also some victories.

At one stage, a system that we frequent was just getting going again after an onslaught of nets. It had been decimated over a few weeks to absolutely bugger all barra of legal size. Species that fitted through the nets like grunter, jacks, smaller fingermark etc were there, just not legalsized barra.

BARRA ON FLY

Towards the end of the season the young bloke and

Tannhym Hodge was over the moon with this nice fish that he pulled from very tough timber on a 7” Halco Paddle Prawn rigged weedless on a EWG 7/0 Atomic Seeker 1/4oz jighead. During October the odd storm got the fish biting well. The fresh runoff can focus the fish around drain run-offs, which makes them easier to find.

I decided that we might go and have a look in some of the freshwater lagoons and billabongs that are relatively common throughout North Queensland, though most are on private properties and need permission to access. If you’re lucky enough to know someone who will allow access, the fish are pretty much sporting targets only anyway, not really meant for the table. The end of the season is when the water is at its warmest for the year, and they can really fire up, and this helps, particularly with the fly fishing.

I had some flies made up for me by a great fella named Ben Chambers, and they’re proving to be an absolute winner in the barra environments, with slow and fast sinking, as well as surface stuff proving a hit. The flies he sent were tied on Gamakatsu SL12s

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in sizes from 1/0 up to 4/0. As a happy medium for the barra, I opted for an 8wt outfit, which will carry the bigger flies in a bit of breeze.

My leader consists of a step down from a metre of 50, down to a metre of 40 and then a metre of 30lb fluorocarbon, ending in around a 9’ long leader which rolls out quite nicely, and is tough enough for most fish. I use weight forward lines the majority of the time, and this helps me to work the flies up and over sub-surface structure, but allow them to sink back down again once I’ve cleared it. I also seem to have less ‘belly’ in the line, which helps me to set the hook a bit better. My young bloke also uses an 8wt with the same format line, and we can still sink them down at least 3m if we’re patient. DECEMBER

OPPORTUNITIES

The forecast of an early and quite big wet season has everyone watching the weather intently to see what eventuates over the next few months, in what is obviously the wettest time of year.

If rivers and creeks are not flowing too hard, then sooty grunter and jungle perch may scratch that casting itch that sets in when barra season closes. Smaller lures like little sneaky RMG 35mm Scorpion, the 52mm Scorpion and the Tilsan Minnow all cast well and pull fish consistently. The Atomic K9 and the Bassday Sugapen are also great topwater presentations that get hit pretty hard by these small sportfish.

On the soft plastics front, the Atomic Plazo minnows, and 3” and 4” Paddle Prawns rigged on tiny jigheads and leader of between 8lb and 12lb should stop the majority of what you’ll encounter, while still being light enough to not spook the finicky ones.

Reef fishing should be very exciting for those with bigger boats, and while the bait fishos still make up the majority of anglers heading wider, the jig and soft plastics brigade are increasing in numbers quite rapidly. The more anglers that give it a go, the more are realising that it really does work.

The smaller jigs in the 40-60g range are good for the shallower reefs, and most anglers use braided line in the 30-40lb line class. The deeper it gets, the heavier the jig needs to be, along with leaders. That said, 60lb fluorocarbon is usually enough to stop the majority of fish without risking the bite rate dropping off. Overhead or spin outfits are a personal choice, but the overheads do make it easier to put in gear and strike if you get hit on the drop, instead of trying to flip the bail arm on a rampaging fish determined to reach the bottom. If the sharks are bad, the jigs and vibes should be packed away and the plastics used instead.

If you’re going to cast softies over the shallow reef, then spin outfits in the 30-50lb class are much more versatile, and deliver a better casting range depending on the lure of choice. Personally, I throw the 4” Atomic Prongs and the 5-7” Paddle Prawns. Jighead weights depend on the depth of course, but they’re usually around 1/3oz for the shallower stuff and 1/2oz for the 4-5m stuff, depending on the run.

One thing’s for sure though, and that is your reflexes need to be on the money or you’ll lose a fair few. There’s nothing gentle about this style of fishing, and you have to go hard on them from the first contact with a fish. This style of fishing is nothing new, by the way; it has been done for at least 30 years, it just wasn’t publicised as much as it is nowadays.

If the fish are a bit finicky, then you can drop your leader to 40lb and this will get you more bites, but you’ll lose the odd one too. Surface stickbaits, Roosta poppers, bibless vibes (both hard and soft) plus a lot of your barra-style lures all produce the goods, but just don’t get attached to your lures as they may not be with you for that long.

All in all, it’s anyone’s guess as to what will happen over the next couple of months or so, but weighing up your options is recommended if you’re to keep yourself entertained and occupied. Honestly though, between the creeks, reef fishing, inshore lure casting and trolling, impoundment fishing for barra (as long as you have a SIPS permit), what more could you ask for as an angler? Are we spoilt? Maybe. Appreciative for sure.

The end of season produced some beautiful fish. Not huge, but well-conditioned, perfectly proportioned, fat, energetic barra. What every lure caster dreams of.